Finding Hidden Assets

A woman who is considering divorce met with us recently. She has been a stay at home mom for 25 years and her husband has been the primary breadwinner. Other than the bank accounts, he has kept their passwords protected, their investments secret, his exact income undisclosed and he excludes her in the tax preparation process each year. She feels like she is in the dark financially. She also feels like he’s hiding money now that divorce is an option. This is where we have been asked to help.

We are asked to help her assimilate information which would give her an idea of their net worth or at least an idea of what assets are in the estate. We asked her to gather any information she can find and bring to us. She was surprised at what she could find. She had all the banking information already and then upon digging at their home she found old IRA statements, old tax forms, letters from his employer, and several other forms. All of which she brought into us.

We were able to give her a rough idea of what she has today based on the statements, but more importantly we were able to find assets she wasn’t aware of. We did that through the W2 which was sent to their home via regular mail due to tax season. Her husband may choose to deny owning these assets, but the W2 cannot lie! Now that these assets are exposed the wife’s attorney can mandate information on these assets through the discovery process, even if the husband tries to deny them.

You can also look for assets that are hidden in your estate, and tax season is the perfect time to perform this seeking expedition. Not only will the W2’s be in the mail, but so will a host of other tax forms. These forms could uncover income from retirement accounts, contributions to retirement accounts and other various bits of financial information.

The W2 is mandated to be mailed by January 31 of each year. Box 12 is particularly important in discovering what is owned by your estate. The most meaningful W2 Box 12 codes for finding hidden assets are as follows: